Nicole Rabata: Flute
Flutist Nicole Rabata has performed extensively throughout Europe and the United States as a soloist and chamber musician and is also active as a traditional Irish flutist on the wooden flute. She holds an Artists’ Diploma and Masters Degree in Performance from Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, England.
She currently serves on the faculty at Colby College, where she maintains an active flute studio and is principal flute in the Colby Symphony Orchestra. Nicole is a founding member of the Bayside Trio and Harlequine Ensemble, Ensemble-in-Residence at Bowdoin College, and the World Flute Trio, a unique ensemble showcasing traditional Shakuhachi, Klezmer, and Irish flute music and original compositions. Nicole has spent many years teaching and performing traditional music in Ireland, where she resided for four years near the West Coast. She has appeared on BBC Glasgow and French National Television and performed with the award-winning Irish group Devana at prestigious festivals such as the Hebridean Celtic Festival in Scotland, the World of Music and Dance Festival in England, the Festival Interceltique du L’Orient in Brittany, France, and the Hammersmith Irish Center in London. She is currently recording her first solo album featuring traditional Irish, Breton, and French Canadian repertoire in addition to her own compositions on the wooden flute. Visit Nicole's website...
Matt Shipman: Guitar
Matt Shipman has become a familiar face on the traditional music stages of New England and has been performing for 10 years all the way from the Mid-West to the East Coast. He is from Exeter, NH but has lived all over the country and has now lived in Maine for the last 9 years. Matt began to play guitar and mandolin in his early teens taught himself to play. He also enjoys playing bozouki, tenor and old time 5 string banjo. He grew up playing jazz trumpet and had a brief career with that at the Hartt School of music in CT, before doing a semester of Native American studies in South Dakota where he ended up living and performing for a number of years. His love of traditional music is reflected later in his college career, a 2004 graduate of Vermont College, majoring in a self designed major of Traditional Music Studies. Visit Matt's website...
Christian Stevens: Accordion and Concertina
Squeezebox player Christian Stevens began playing music in 1998 among the Portsmouth, New Hampshire and Portland, Maine traditional music scenes. Since then he has meandered around New England performing at festivals, adding the pulse to dances, hosting and crashing sessions, and "collaborating" with many of the musicians he's met along the way. Chris squeezes Dipper and Jeffries concertinas and Castagnari Accordions and currently instructs anglo concertina as part of the Boston Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann Music School. Available for booking, lessons, counseling, whatever. Visit Chris's MySpace page...
Alden Robinson: Fiddle
Alden is a fiddle player from Medomak, Maine, now living in Portland. He grew up playing a variety of fiddle styles in the Maine tradition and focused on traditional Irish music in college. He spent part of 2005 in Cork, Ireland, studying trad fiddle. Currently, he play gigs in coastal Maine and occasionally in other parts of New England. Besides The Milliners, he's a member of the midcoast-based contra dance band Playgroup. Check out his website...